U2's Adam Clayton finds what he’s looking for with plans to construct mansion in Kinsale
Planning files related to U2's Adam Clayton’s application state that when he first saw the plot, he 'recognised that it was an ideal place to create his retirement home'. File picture: Brian McEvoy
Drumroll/guitar riff please: U2 bassist Adam Clayton is set to build a sprawling-mansion-cum–retirement-home in the fashionable coastal enclave of Kinsale, adding to the coterie of celebrities who own homes in the picturesque West Cork town.
The legendary musician, who has spent the past week celebrating U2’s 50th anniversary along with fellow band members Bono, The Edge, and Larry Mullan, has applied for planning permission to build a 795 sq m home — about seven times the size of a standard home — in Ringfinnan, east of Kinsale town, on the opposite side of the Bandon River to the main town.
It’s understood also that singer songwriter Dubliner Dermot Kennedy has bought a home on the eastern side of Kinsale, for which he paid €2.25m.
Planning files related to Clayton’s application state that when he first saw the plot, he “recognised that it was an ideal place to create his retirement home”. It is very close to the Kinsale Garden of Remembrance for 9/11, which commemorates the victims of the 2001 New York terrorist attacks.
Clayton has had his sights trained on the Kinsale area for a number of years and seems to have finally found what he is looking for. It’s understood he was the underbidder for chocolate-box pretty Annefield House at Ballinclashet Creek in Oysterhaven, which went on the market in 2023.
It was reported in this newspaper at the time that a US buyer jetted into to gazump a €1.85m deal, topping up it up by about €1m.
The low-slung pristine period property sold for €2.775m, having come to market for €1.5m.
It is understood a key attraction at Annefield House for Clayton was privacy; the Ringfinnan site, which runs down to the Bandon River, offers the same seclusion. It is understood a sibling of Clayton also has a property interest in the area.
The design statement by architects Rundell Associates state that Clayton’s brief is for “a modern, sustainable, and comfortable family home”, with step-free access throughout the main living areas and principal bedroom “so that it could serve as a lifetime home”.
The seven-bed house will include an underground car park, a gym, a health spa, a games and media room, and several kitchen and dining areas. The principal bedroom on the ground floor comes with balcony, supersize dressing room, and en suite.
The building itself , consisting of a north and south wing, will be “reminiscent of local farmsteads and courtyard typologies”, with multiple structures rather than a single mass, with the aim of minimising visual impact.
It will replace a two-storey “ruined homestead” and surrounding outbuildings and will extend over three floors.
The ambitious nature of the outdoor plan includes a walled garden, fountain/water features, multiple paved terraces, and multiple soft landscape terracing.
The landscaping will embrace “the wild nature of the site, with pathways formed through the heather, and additional planting introduced to screen the house from overlooking”.
Central to Clayton’s “architectural ambitions” is the “careful framing of views”, with particular attention paid to Archdeacon Duggan Bridge, which links Kinsale town with the Castlepark/Ringrone side of the Bandon River, carrying traffic towards the Old Head and Sandycove areas.
The house will be built using “local materials”, including varied use of dry stone walling and timber cladding, with a mix of traditional slate pitched roofs and green sedum flat roofs.
A new access road will be introduced from the main road. The planning application also seeks permission for the erection of 50 PV panels mounted on ground mounted arrays and five micro wind turbines, as well as the provision of a new wastewater treatment system. A decision on Clayton’s application is due on October 21.
Kinsale has long been a magnet for celebrities/high net worth individuals. US billionaire James Berwind has featured regularly in these pages in recent years as the buyer of multiple Kinsale properties, investing more than €20m.
Most recently, the heir to the mining dynasty Berwind Corporation went sale agreed at €6m-plus for Prospect Villa: A superbly restored Victorian home in Scilly.
In 2023, Nike heir Travis Knight paid €4.5m for Ocean Breeze, a house above Scilly which has since undergone a major transformation.
US singer/songwriter Tori Amos is a former resident, having owned Ballywilliam House, 6km upriver, for 25 years. It sold in 2019 for €1.19m.
- Catherine Shanahan is Property Editor.
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